I finally conquered the beast! I will admit that this one step of trying to get the SP81's upper half off had me stuck for almost two weeks, and I hated every moment of it because it didn't make sense to me why it was being so difficult.
Of course, this is the SP81 that was being held together by random screws, nuts, washers and lots of hope and dreams.
For any future people who may be working on their own Super Pro 81 and got stuck where I did, and are searching these forums for help, here's two key pieces of info:
1: You can indeed just pull the whole thing up without unscrewing the rear mount once you get all the other screws out. The anti vibe rubber is just really pressed in tight to the handle/carb area and needs lots of wiggling to free it.
2: If you are also like me and wonder why none of your wrenches can fit the rear mounts screw, check for THIS...
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I couldn't believe it when I finally got the top off and noticed this. Is that how these came from the factory? Or did someone do this?
With the top off, here's another little look inside. I see that the rubber intake thing has a little damage around the edge. Is this bad enough to need replacing?
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Anyway... I can finally continue the disassembly and get this thing in half to see the real condition of the piston and cylinder. Hopefully it will be good and worth all the effort!
Also, I think nothing exemplifies the weird jury-rigging going on with this poor saw better than this one screw...
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